Ken Howard - The Positive Choice for Hermitage and Knaphill South

Ken Howard has been a Borough Councillor for Hermitage and Knaphill South since 2000. Originally from Twickenham, Ken went to Grammar School in Hampton and studied technical photography at Isleworth, eventually taking charge of a photographic unit at Imperial College specialising in geological research. Now aged 57, he has lived in Knaphill for more than 20 years, with his wife, Sally and their teenage daughter, Natalie. He runs his own home maintenance company.

As our local Councillor, Ken has campaigned hard to cut aircraft noise, greenhouse gases, light pollution and improving recycling.

Ken is a member of the Council's Shadow Executive. He also sits on the Licencing Committee and is a leading member and former chair of the Climate Change Working Group. Previously he has been Chair of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Chair of the Appeals Committee and WBC's representative on the Fairoaks Airport Consultative Committee.

Ken is leading the charge against wasteful spending at County Hall - including money on agency staff and consultants. Yet there is no money to fix this blocked drain.

Ken is justifiably proud of the part he plays in developing Woking's reputation for environmental good practice. His primary interests lie in global problems like climate change and biodiversity. In fact, it was Ken who devised Woking's policy on Light Pollution to reduce energy waste, protect vulnerable species and improve the look of our night skies. He has been a leading campaigner to get "Green Education" in schools and is the Eco Governor at Woking's most environmentally progressive school in St Johns.

Ken is working hard to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in our area.

As a local councillor, he is also involved with the more usual issues, such as road safety and maintenance problems, finding solutions to litter and anti-social behaviour, protecting our green spaces, limiting aircraft noise and improving the lives of our most vulnerable residents. He believes it is important to maintain decent services while keeping taxation as low as possible.

In his spare time, when there is any, Ken is a big fan of live music and enjoys tinkering with old motorbikes.